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The article reports on securities which are being purchased by investors in Spring 2008 as a recession, as some are calling it, sets in. When times are bad, the article indicates, one should buy assets. Commentary is provided by Christopher Ailman, chief investment officer for the California State Teachers' Retirement System. The various stocks and bonds being purchased, and the individuals and institutions purchasing them, are detailed.

The article discusses a family feud over succession and the estate of Sumner Redstone, the controlling shareholder in CBS and Viacom. Redstone's daughter, Shari, was the apparent heir until the two began feuding after Redstone's 2002 divorce. Shari was granted vice chairmanship of CBS and Viacom and the right to succeed Redstone after his death in an irrevocable trust, a right Redstone wanted her to give up.

The article focuses on James Tisch of Loews Corp. Tisch discusses his relationship with his father, Larry Tisch, founder of Loews Corp., and the financial techniques he learned. Loews' stock has more than tripled in the past three, raising the family's 30% stake to over $6 billion. Investments made by the Tisches are discussed.

The article discusses the possibility that claims against prescription drug company Wyeth were undeserved. Six million Americans took Redux and Pondimin to lose weight. A few thousand got very sick, prompting Wyeth to settle a class-action lawsuit. Lawyers like Marc Bern actively seek out clients with which to start class-action lawsuits, which could lead to fraud and misrepresentation. INSET: Time Capsules.

The article discusses the potential for cyberterrorism, as al Qaeda operatives are allegedly training to hack computers. Four years ago al Qaeda operatives were taking flying lessons. Today they are honing a new skill: hacking. Jason Laren is a master hacker. A 31-year-old programmer at the secretive Idaho National Engineering & Environmental Laboratory in Idaho Falls, he obsesses about the ways in which a terrorist intruder might go online and trip circuit breakers on the electrical grid or open valves at chemical storage tanks. Experts like Larson make a living by stoking cyberfear in the rest of us. They say that terrorists could shut down chunks of the Internet, the phone system or the electric grid by hacking into computers. We're not spending enough on computer security, they say, and the consequences could be devastating. As the third anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 passes, the next threat could be a Net threat: Solid evidence shows that al Qaeda agents and other terrorists are trying to attain the online skills needed to wage cyberwar. Washington lacks any consensus on what to do about the Net threat--or whether it even constitutes a threat. Online, America's aching Achilles' heel is the wide-open automated control systems that run the nation's networks for electricity, water, gas, oil and more. Government officials could press industry for more urgent measures, but they, too, are behind on the issue. The Department of Homeland Security has appointed a cyberczar to focus on the online world. INSET: Jihadists@Work.

This article discusses the law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach who after years of successful lawsuits for corporate malpractice are now under investigation for their own practices. Melvyn Weiss, 68, is grizzled and intimidating. Together, as cochairmen of one of the most feared law firms in the nation, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, they have bullied corporate America out of $30 billion in damages and counting. Now Weiss and Lerach are eyeing their biggest payday ever, thanks to the corporate scandals still reverberating on Wall Street. Since 1995 Weiss and Lerach have handled half of all class actions alleging securities fraud. In a giant suit in federal court in New York, they are going after 55 investment banks, alleging fraud in 310 initial public offerings of stock. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Milberg Weiss violated criminal laws in its hell-bent pursuit of securities fraud cases in the 1990s. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles is pro

The article offers a look at former president of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, Chuck McRae, whose ouster is part of a secret war on judges now being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. McRae, 57, ends his 11-year tenure next January, passing the gavel to a pro-business corporate lawyer and Republican named Jess Dickinson. Dickinson was swept into office on a down-and-dirty, name-calling campaign bankrolled by $1.2 million he raised from doctors and small-business owners--an unheard of sum for a judicial election. Unbeknownst to some Mississippi voters, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pumped $1 million more into anti-McRae advertisements, funneling it through local groups such as Mississippians for Economic Progress. So far the chamber has won in 21 of 24 judicial elections in eight states-and prevailed in 11 attorney general races. West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw will be among the targets.

This article focuses on the benefits and risks of hedge funds. Mediocre returns, outrageous fees and a whiff of scandal have not stopped the hedge fund business from enjoying explosive growth in the past decade. The surge in assets probably has something to do with the long bull market, which, despite the weakness of the last year, has left investors with a lot more money to play with. For many the "hedge" is in name only. They may make lopsided leveraged bets on the direction of the stock market or interest rates. They don't always stick to stocks. Some play with currencies, some make arbitrage bets on convertible bonds, some go in and out of mutual funds looking for market inefficiencies.

The article focuses on the life and property insurance claims of Holocaust survivors and their descendants. Topics discussed include the amount allocated for claimants, the reason behind insurer Allianz AG's joining of the international claims commission and the decision by Swiss banks to agree to a settlement with survivors. Also mentioned is a deal between the U.S. State Department and the German government to aid survivors in exchange for insulating companies from private lawsuits.

Focuses on anti-capitalists movements in the United States as of November, 2000. Resentment of U.S. corporations, particularly drug companies, whose profits have grown; Decision of the U.S. government to allow foreign drug companies to import medicine at lower prices; Work of pharmaceutical companies trying to protect their image and business. INSETS: FAT CORPORATE TARGETS;DAMNED IF YOU DO, by Michael Maiello;FAT CORPORATE TARGETS.

Focuses on Michel David-Weill, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Lazard LLC. Hopes of French industrilaist Vincent Bollore to break up the Lazard banking empire; Value of the Lazard firm; Details of the Lazard lineage in the private financial empire; Tension between David-Weill and the New York partners. INSETS: The Rise of Vincent Bollore;Pyramid Power;The Rise of Vincent Bollore.

Focuses on the plans of Chase Manhattan bank vice chairman James Lee to increase the use of leveraged buyouts (LBO). How Lee offloads the risk while preserving the fees for LBO loans; His focus on wholesale lending; Highlights of Lee's career in banking; Chase's standing as the largest raiser of debt capital in the world; Lee's view of LBO as a way to engineer a combination of so-called Old and New Economy players. INSET: Junk, Updated, by Michael Maiello.